tion which enabled me to observe every look and
gesture, and it did not escape me that Laura, while kneeling, cast a
look of supplication towards heaven, and sighed deeply. She soon
became conscious of my presence; and rising, she took a chair, and
fixed upon me a look so deeply penetrative, so fraught with tender
meaning, and yet so timidly, so truly modest, that every chord
of feeling in my frame was thrilled with sudden transport. To
uninterested observers her deportment was tranquil, but ere long I
could discern tokens of deep and anxious thought clouding her lovely
face. Her lips quivered as if in sympathy with some inward feeling of
doubt and apprehension, which at length subsided, and her angelic
features were suddenly irradiated with a tender and enchanting smile.
She then read for some time in her book, and marked a place in it with
a card, to which, by an expressive glance, she directed my attention.
The mass was concluded, the congregation quitted the church, and I
availed myself of the crowded portal to approach and take the card,
which she conveyed to me unperceived. I hastened from the spot, and
seized the first opportunity to read these words--'_Two hours after
midnight, at the postern near the canal._' The card said no more; but,
to a lover, it spoke volumes.

"These magic words, and the enchantress who had penned them, absorbed
every thought and feeling throughout the never-ending day. In the
evening, I passed and repassed the Foscari palace, until the shape and
position of every door and window were engraven on my memory. I
provided myself with weapons, ordered my gondolier to hold himself
in readiness, and at midnight I proceeded to the Piazza near Maria
Formosa. Enveloped in my mantle, I traversed the pavement with
feverish impetuosity for two hours, which appeared like ages. The
course of nature seemed to stagnate, and the constellations to pause
in their career, as if in mockery of my feelings. I walked with
increased rapidity, and even vaulted into the air with childish
eagerness as if to grasp the heavenly bodies, and accelerate their
lingering progress. At length the last quarter struck. I hastened
through the silent and deserted streets, and strode over the bridges
with a bound as vehement as if I would have spurned them from under
me. I soon arrived at the appointed postern, and waited, all eye and
ear, in a contiguous angle of the wall. Ere long the door was gently
opened, and I heard the mu